Just before we placed our orders with the extremely attentive waiter, Anthony leaned toward me and said in a playful tone, “I promise no one around here bites.”

Anthony watched me intently as I felt my face heat up, and I couldn’t help but bite my lip, my eyes scanning the menu to find the cheapest thing to order—not an easy task at all seeing as there were no prices listed.

His eyebrow rose, and his chin automatically tilted down a notch as he caught my eye. “This meal is on me. You are to order everything from soup to nuts, anything you want. And if you don’t, I will.”

He didn’t look like he was bluffing at all, and he’d already threatened to spank me once, and I knew they weren’t idle threats, either. Somehow, I doubted that he would hesitate one instant to take me over his knee. I now had to look at him a little differently than I had. He’d always been a take-charge guy, confident and dominant and more sure of himself than any ten men. But all of his overprotective possession toward me had been in line of a guardian or an extra father figure in my life. Not the way I had wanted it, and most certainly not what I wanted now.

Even with our lunches, where I got to drink him in for an hour or two at a time, I could feel the warmth and comfort of his undivided attention, but something had changed between us… since I’d called and was going to cancel out of our dinner, but he hadn’t let me. Things had somehow become a notch or two more intimate, just from that discussion, and now all of that intensity had settled squarely on me, and I didn’t know whether to revel in it or run and hide in the corner.

We had flirted. Only a little, and maybe even innocently. But we had most certainly flirted.

It seemed easier to give in to him, to a point. But I didn’t want him ordering for me. I was too picky of an eater for that. He would never be able to remember all the myriad things I refused to eat. The menu wasn’t huge, but I was surprised to see that there were several things that looked interesting. I didn’t need to see a price to know I could never have afforded to pay for my own meal. I was going to order an appetizer only, but when he raised his eyebrow at me in a ‘tone’ that required no actual voicing, I rethought it. I ended up with a prosciutto and melon appetizer, which seemed to surprise him, with a flat-iron steak cooked medium and a side of gnocchi with pesto cream sauce.

Anthony gave his own order as well as requested a bottle of wine that cost more than I made in a week and the waiter scurried away.

“There’s one thing that I have always wondered about you and I’ve never asked. Would you mind a somewhat personal question?” he asked.

I squirmed in my chair, refusing to meet his eyes, saying, “No,” in a long, drawn-out, extremely tentative manner.

“I’ve never seen you with anyone. You’ve never been serious with anyone that I know of. Why is that?”

“Have you met my father?” I tried to joke to divert a bit, but when Anthony kept his eyes locked with mine, I knew he wanted a real answer. I shrugged. “Well, my father was strict, so I didn’t have high school boyfriends. And though not everyone knew what he did for a living, I think most knew not to mess with him. I was sort of like a Russian plague. And then when he died… well, I guess I just became more of an introvert than I already was.”

Anthony nearly choked on a sip of his water. “A Russian plague? I highly doubt that. You are absolutely stunning. I’m sure boys were drooling over you. I’m sure men still do and you just don’t see it.”

I shook my head vehemently. “No. I’m pretty sure the Russian plague has stayed with me.”

He leaned forward and beamed the most seductive smile a man could, though I don’t believe that was his intent. Anthony had no idea just how handsome he was. “So have you never been with a man?”

I knew I was growing redder by the minute. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were going to ask a personal question.”

His eyes widened. “A virgin?”

I grimaced. “I really hate this conversation.”

He chuckled. “I’m sorry. Just in my line of business and especially running Black Secrets, I don’t see many of your kind.” He laughed louder than I had ever heard him. At least since my father had died. “It’s like I’m staring at an extinct animal right now. You should be on the endangered species list.”

Tags: Alta Hensley Romance
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